Sale, Kershaw duel to draw in White Sox win

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- A Cactus League pitching duel between elite left-handers Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Chris Sale of the White Sox played out to a virtual draw, but it was the White Sox who came out on top, 4-2, thanks to a two-run home run by Tyler Saladino in the meeting of Camelback Ranch neighbors.
Sale, making his first Cactus League appearance after making his first few starts on the Minor League side, went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Kershaw, in his fourth spring start, also allowed two earned on six hits, walking none and striking out four.

"It's just another Spring Training game," Sale said. "I usually don't pay too much attention to who I'm pitching against. As for the atmosphere, more people probably came out because of that. It was good. Overall, we accomplished what we needed to."
The White Sox got to Kershaw first, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning. Todd Frazier started it with a leadoff double, and he scored two outs later on a Jerry Sands single. The White Sox added a pair of singles after that, including one by Saladino to knock Sands home.

In the next half-inning, the Dodgers got on the board with an RBI triple by Howie Kendrick into the right-field corner, where Avisail Garcia stumbled while trying to corral the ball. They tied the game in the fourth when Alex Guerrero led off with a solo homer.

After Kershaw gave up two earned runs in five innings on his birthday against a team the Dodgers don't play much, Kershaw had high praise for White Sox slugger Jose Abreu.
"That was pretty impressive," Kershaw said of Abreu's 11-pitch at-bat that ended in a groundout. "We don't get to see him a lot. Don't know if he's under the radar, but he's one of the top five or 10 best hitters in the game. I made some pretty quality pitches he was able to foul off. That base hit the next at-bat, that ball was pretty much on his hands and he had no problem getting inside of it. Just a really impressive at-bat by him."
Dodgers Up Next: The Dodgers play a pair of split-squad games on Sunday beginning at 1:05 p.m. PT. In the home game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale against the Padres, fifth-starter candidate Mike Bolsinger opposes Robby Erlin. In the road game against Milwaukee, Scott Kazmir will try to bounce back from his shaky "B" game start, facing Jimmy Nelson. Fans can watch both games on MLB.TV.
White Sox Up Next:Jacob Turner gets another shot at trying to crack the White Sox rotation on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. CT on MLB.TV against the Athletics. It will be his fourth start of Cactus League play, matching him for the team lead with John Danks. Turner, 24, was picked up off waivers from the Cubs after missing most of 2015 with a shoulder injury, and he has an uphill battle to make the rotation with Mat Latos and Danks the leading candidates for the final two spots.